THE COLOSSAL SQUID

Equipped with a powerful beak, sucker-packed tentacles, and arms lined with razor-sharp claws, the colossal squid likely inspired legends of terrible sea monsters, including the ship-wrestling kraken.Colossal squid are the world's largest invertebrates, or animals without backbones. The squid are shrouded in mystery: Colossal squid live in Antarctic waters at depths of about 6,560 feet (2,000 meters), and the elusive animals have never been observed alive in the wild.

Investigations of a 30-foot-long (10-meter-long) adult colossal squid caught accidentally off Antarctica in 2007 have been providing scientists with some of their first clues about the deep-sea giants.